UNH men’s basketball drops a close one

Thursday

Dec 6, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By BRETT FERRELLPortsmouth Herald

DURHAM — University of New Hampshire men’s basketball coach Bill Herrion is typically the chatty, outgoing type. Following his team’s game against Central Connecticut State, with head in hands, he was not so talkative.

The Wildcats were defeated by CCSU by a score of 87-84 at Lundholm Gymnasium despite holding the lead for over 28 minutes.

“When a basketball team turns it over as much as we did tonight and gets beat on the offensive glass, it’s very hard to win a basketball game,” Herrion said. “That’s my fault as the head coach of just fundamentally not having these guys to the point that they need to be at.”

UNH (3-5) took a 41-35 halftime lead by outhustling and overwhelming CCSU (4-3) with accurate and continuous shooting from the perimeter, while the Blue Devils struggled to penetrate into the UNH paint.

“In the second half (the Blue Devils) were way tougher,” Herrion said. “They wanted to gain more than we did.”

CCSU found its stride in the second half by continuing to attack to the Wildcats inside, where the defense weakened and allowed 56 percent shooting in the half. The Devils had a 42-23 scoring advantage in the paint.

“Second half we didn’t execute defensively very well,” said Chandler Rhoads, who led UNH in scoring with 18 points. “They got a lot of points around the basket, we didn’t rebound well and they capitalized off our mistakes.”

UNH’s Chris Pelcher was a big presence inside on offense, accounting for 16 points, but he did not get much help.

“He can score,” Herrion said. “We probably have to get him the ball more.”

UNH had an opportunity to tie the game with 45 seconds remaining when CCSU’s Kyle Vinales (game-high 27 points) turned the ball over and Rhoads capitalized on a layup to close the deficit to 82-80, but CCSU put the game away at the free-throw line.

“We were fortunate to get out of here with a win,” said CCSU head coach Howie Dickenman. “We played more aggressively in the second half. We played with more efficiency.”

Prior to the season, Herrion’s focus was to improve upon his team’s play on the inside. He was content with the inside performance on the offensive end, but it was sub-par defense that made the difference.

“The defensive effort was poor for us to give up 87 points and for them to shoot 50 percent from the floor,” Herrion said. “There’s no excuse and that is what I’m really disappointed in.”

The offensive production was a positive for the Wildcats. Ferg Myrick had 15 points, Jordon Bronner and Patrick Konan had 11 apiece and Logan Mortenson scored eight.

“If you told me we were going to score 84 points I’d say we were going to win by 20,” Herrion said.

“To win games on a consistent level is on the defensive end and rebounding,” Rhoads said. “Once we fix those two things then we have a chance to be good, but until then, we’re going to keep struggling.”